Feeding the Homeless

Unfortunately all over the world there are people who are living in the streets, without a roof over their head every night or food in their stomachs. They have fallen on tough times and their reasons for there unfortunate situation could be anything, from a lack of affordable living, unemployment, substance abuse, mentally ill, a natural disaster, eviction – the list goes on. The problems continue to rise even once they get to this stage, i.e. reduced access to health care, limited education, suffering violence and abuse, discrimination, unsuitable for employment, and no access to banks to save money. In 2005, Canada had 150 00 homeless people and reports suggested that this number would triple by 2010.

So, what do we do about this growing problem on our streets? Do we drive past the lower income neighborhoods watching these temporarily “shanty towns” being erected right in front of our eyes, do we relax in our warm houses, watching our 20` flat screen TV while a poor lost sole’s main objective is to stay warm that night.

Should we blame our government who has done nothing to fight the homeless situation? The Vancouver City Land Use bylaw says people cannot “ ... cause to be constructed, erected, placed, deposited, maintained or occupied any structure, tent, shelter, object, substance or thing on city land without the permission from the city.”

Yes, we have the 2010 Olympics coming in less than 2 years and we watch the transformation of our city with these multi-billion dollar buildings being erected, in order to accommodate all the sport sites and visitors. How will it look when the spotlight is on Vancouver and we have drug abused homeless people sleeping on the park bench when our government has done nothing to improve the affordable living situation.

How do you feel when you drive down east hastings and see the panhandling, the drunks crossing the street oblivious to oncoming traffic, or watching the squeegee kids come up to wash your car window.
Do you automatically lock your car door?

Do you try not to make eye contact and drive through that area as fast as possible?
Do you think to yourself - how can one get in that situation? Do you personally do anything about it?

My answers to all those questions were YES until Friday and it took a fellow co-worker to open my eyes and actually help the situation.

Josip, Nicola and I went out on Friday night and served food to the homeless. Josip’s Church organizes this on every 3rd Friday of the month. They go down to Cobs bread the night before, retrieve the bread that did not sell and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They serve the food out of a truck and with the sandwiches they also get cookies, crackers, juice, and coffee.

Interacting with these people was quite an eye opening experience. Yes, most of them were high on something or intoxicated but they all said thank you and were extremely happy that they had some food inside them. You always wonder how they got to this state and sometimes you might be lucky to find out their story. In the end we are all humans, some are luckier than others are but if we all help each other out then we can make this world a better place to live and be grateful for what you have.